Television advertising dollars fell almost 9.5% in 2009, to
$60.3 billion, according to the data released March 17 by Kantar Media.
Not surprisingly, spot TV took the biggest fall in the TV
sector, down 23.7%, to $12 billion. Network TV dropped by 7.6%, to $20.5 billion.
The cable TV segment saw the smallest drop off, taking a
1.4% fall, to $19 billion. National syndication fell by 4.9%, to $4.2 billion, while
Spanish language TV dropped by 8.9%, to $4.3 billion.
The numbers show the resilience of television compared to
other media. Radio fell by 20%, newspapers dropped by 19.7% while magazines
fell 17.4%. The only segment in the plus column was Internet, with display ads
up 7.3%.
Total ad spending in 2009 dropped to $125.3 billion, a 12.3%
fall. Fourth-quarter ad spending was down by 6% versus the previous year.
Advertisers who increased their ad spend in 2009 include
WalMart, which added 35.4% to its measured media ad budget to reach $1.169
billion, followed by Pfizer, up 32.7%, to $1.39 billion, and Sprint Nextel, up
29.9%, to $1.2 billion.
Even General Motors, the only auto company to make the Top
10, spent 1.3% more than in 2008 to finish on $2.1 billion. Time Warner, the
only entertainment company to place in the Top 10 marketers list, slashed ad
spending by 6.8%, to $1.204 billion, down from $1.292 billion in 2008.
